Antioxidant activity of tomato lipophilic extracts and investigationon interactions between carotenoids and alpha-tocopherol in synthetic mixtures

In the present study we assayed the antioxidant activity of lipophilic extracts obtained from different tomato varieties. The results showed that cherry tomatoes, characterized by a high carotenoid content, had the highest antioxidant activity. A quantitative analysis of lycopene, b-carotene, lutein and a-tocopherol was also performed and the correlation between the antioxidant content and the antioxidant activity was estimated. The highest correlation coefficient was found for lycopene (R2=0.9236,P< 0.001). The analysis of two-component mixtures containing a-tocopherol and carotenoids showed that significant synergism occurred for all the combinations which contained a-tocopherol and b-carotene mixed together. The highest synergistic effects were detected for a-tocopherol-lycopene mixtures, which were the most efficient combinations tested in the present study. The analysis of the carotenoid combinations indicated that synergism occurred for lycopene-b-carotene, lycopene-lutein and lutein-b-carotene mixtures. The analysis of four-component mixtures did not show statistically significant synergistic effects.